Petunia the Good Aunt and Not Owl Friend
by ayebydan
Summary: She does not realise she is crying until Vernon presses an open bottle into her hand for Harry while he settles himself down on another chair with Dudley and the letter. "What are we going to do, Vernon?" "We're going to raise is a wizard is what, Pet. But first of all, I think we best get our hands on a second cot and get some of Dudleys' clothes back out of the loft. "


Petunia the Good Aunt and Not Owl Friend

Petunia jolts awake around five thirty as her subconscious remembers she did not put out the milk bottles the night before. Rolling from her bed she makes her way downstairs as quietly as possible in order to not wake Dudley who is thankfully finally sleeping through the night. Fetching the bottles from the kitchen worktop she grabs her keys from her handbag on her way past and opens the door as quietly as she can.

Then she screams.

While sinking to her knees a loud thud tells her that both Dudley and Vernon have awoken but she can't take her eyes off the bundle in blankets before her. A baby. Her _nephew_ if her eyes are not mistaking her is lying on her front doorstep wrapped in nothing more than a blue blanket and with an old looking envelope sitting on the concrete beside him. With trembling arms, she reaches out and pulls the baby towards her. His confused green eyes peer up at her and that along with the unnatural warmth radiating from the blanket on a November morning confirm her suspicion and a moment later her worst fear.

Only Lily's death could have left her child on a doorstep after all. And no other magical child could have come.

"Pet? Pet, what on earth? Who-"

"Harry," she mutters while getting to her feet. The cold has already settled into her exposed shins and she shudders as she grabs the envelope too and then retreats into the warmth of the house. At the sound of Dudley's cries little Harry begins to cry himself and Vernon looks more confused than ever.

"Get Dudley and the red sleep suit in his bottom drawer. I never got around to tidying it away and this one needs warm pyjamas."

Petunia's tone is lifeless as she rocks the dark haired baby in her arms and fear of that along with anything else sets Vernon into motion.

With one hand Petunia fills the kettle in the kitchen and pops two bottles of the baby milk she had made up the night before into the microwave. As the hum of the device fills the room only then she has sit at the table and thumb open the envelope.

Each line is like a stab to the heart.

Dead.

War.

Scarred.

Orphan.

Terrorists.

Wards sealed in blood as they slept.

Boy Who Lived.

She does not realise she is crying until Vernon presses an open bottle into her hand for Harry while he settles himself down on another chair with Dudley and the letter.

"What are we going to do, Vernon?"

"We're going to raise is a wizard is what, Pet. But first of all, I think we best get our hands on a second cot and get some of Dudleys' clothes back out of the loft. He's going to need them. Little tyke."

PGANOF

Harry and Dudley do not have many friends other than each other growing up and the ones they do have always seem to be the friends that move away. Dudley had a group once but they thought it was okay to push people around and Dudley did not see anything wrong with that until they pushed Harry over in the November of Year 1. He had punched one in the face and Harry had jumped on the other's back. They got the snot kicked out of them but were attached at the hip from that moment. Petunia had not known whether to scold them both, one of them, or take them for ice cream.

Vernon had only laughed.

Petunia worries constantly about the future to come so they start karate together young. That picks them up a few friends or at least people who are not enemies but it bothers them less as they grow older. Both know from a young age what Harry is and that they were always going to end up at separate boarding schools. The first accidental magic Harry had done around the house had startled his aunt and uncle but not seemed overly important. When he started to change the colour of his bedroom because he felt the blue he had before was too childlike a discussion had been had.

The boys take it in their stride.

For all Dudley does to try keep Harry out of trouble even he can't come up a reason as to why the teacher's hair was suddenly blue. The cousins scurry home that day paranoid the wizarding police will come get them and then break out of their rooms at midnight celebratory chocolate when they don't. Petunia turns over in her bed with a smile and pretends not to hear either of them.

Sometimes strangers come up to Harry and shake his hand the family pretends not to know why while Petunia shoos them off.

"That is so creepy," Dudley comments once when a man almost knocks them over in a supermarket. Without thinking about it he had put his body between Harry and one of the industrial freezers without thinking about it as the man sped off in glee.

"Rude too," Harry agrees.

"Quite boys," Petunia half-snarls, her lips pressed into a thin line, "Accosting children like that in public. For something that happened wh-...well it is not right."

Harry shrugs it off but Dudley responds by asking to do another martial art. The next weirdo to grab his cousin's hand is getting theirs broken if he has anything to say about it.

He is most disappointed to learn hand breaking is not taught at the Tuesday evening judo lessons. Harry seems content to go with his dad to learn golf on Wednesdays as his extracurricular though. Vernon and Petunia like to keep things even.

Dudley cannot be arsed walking that much if he is fully honest. He would rather stay home with his mum and really, he could use the time to fill out the extra homework sheets that help him keep up with Harry.

PGANOF

"I do not like, and by do not I mean I abhor the violence of it, but consider it a joint birthday present. Early for you Harry," Petunia sniffs before handing each boy a ticket to Wembley stadium where the World Wrestling Federation is set to perform , on Dudley's tenth birthday, "But you both worked hard, earned your grades and kept up with your chores. NO misbehaving!"

The boys explode into a chasm of noise as Petunia rolls her eyes. Distantly she wonders if there is some sort of magical equivalent that Harry is missing out on, but she cannot help that. She can only do so much. When Vernon rambles about getting the boys pop and popcorn and hotdogs and a list of merchandise she does not protest.

A day after they attend the event she finds Harry in a heap around his arm by the rose bushes and takes him to Accident and Emergency to get his broken arm seen to. Dudley meekly informs her Harry had been attempting a 'moonsault' from the top of the garden shed.

She wants to throttle them both but does not.

They have earned this point of innocence. The letter of Albus Dumbledore always burns in her mind, reminding her it cannot last.

PGANOF

It is a normal morning for the family when they are in the kitchen and the letterbox goes. Petunia sends Harry for the mail while continuing to watch Dudley at the stove. Given that both will soon be out on their own it is vital they know how to make basic meals. Both have argued against it with varied versions of 'welll there be someone else to do that' and she is not going to have that under her roof, thank you very much. It is not like she makes them slave away and abandons them to it.

Vernon has just sat down from putting bread into the toaster when an ashen faced Harry forces the door open and stumbles his way back into the room. With trembling hands he offers his aunt a letter addressed to himself down to the details of his bedroom. A wrinkled brown envelope and emerald green ink.

All too familiar.

"You know that is not for me, Harry. Go on. Open it," Petunia murmurs, her voice cracking at the end as she reaches her nephew and hovers over him. In silence Harry reads the letter and nods to himself before reading the contents aloud.

"So, it is time then," Harry asks carefully before handing the letter back to his aunt. Petunia takes it with another slight tremble.

"Well we always knew that this day would come, didn't we darling?"

"To be a Wizard though," Harry trembles, his small shoulders shrinking into himself as he gazes around the kitchen at his cousin and his uncle. Petunia settles her own trembling hands on his sides before pulling him close.

"You always were. Time to get ready for school is all. You and Dudley both! My boys, both grown and ready to go to boarding school and become men. I am so proud of you both!"

"I get a bigger stick," Dudley declares happily before making a half-hearted swipe in Harry's direction with it. It finally teases a smile from the younger boy.

"Yeah but mine will do magic!"

"Not any you will be showing us though," Vernon adds in loudly, "No expulsions under my watch do you hear? Your father was good at getting up to no good from what we hear but I expect you to follow your mother's path and behave. Do your best at everything, take no nonsense and always be proud of where you come from! The both of you!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon."

"Does this mean we get to go back to London to shop again?" Dudley breaks in again, his eyes widening at the thought. Harry has no doubts that his mind is on the large toy store they visited when they went for his school supplies. Before he can comment though Dudley frowns and turns to Petunia who is now sitting down at the table and encouraging Harry to do the same, "Mum you must have known Harry would get his letter before term. Why not wait to get my stuff then?"

It is Vernon who answers while prodding at the boy to get on with serving up the pan of bacon he had set aside when Harry had appeared nervously with the green inked envelope, " So that you both get to have a special day out all about you. That and there is just too much ruddy stuff for two boys, two schools and one trip. Especially as Harry will need an o-"

"A lot of stuff," Petunia breaks in quickly, "Now come on Diddums, get the bacon out. Harry, fetch the ketchup. We shall all be regular until we go on our trip at the weekend! "

PGANOF

Petunia waits on the door closing behind the boys who are off to a morning karate class before rounding on her husband as he fixes his tie in the hall mirror, "Harry is not getting an owl, Vernon! I absolutely refuse."

Vernon flexes his nose a few time to double check the standard of his morning shave before pulling a comb from his trouser pocket.

"I mean it!"

"I heard you, dear, but I disagree. We need to be able to contact the lad. From what I saw from your sister and such they seem rather important."

"Then he can use one of the school ones! There is a whole supply to be used freely and besides you saw the letter!" Petunia shrieks, folding her bony arms over her chest and remaining between her husband and the door, "He could just as easily have a cat if you insist on him having a pet. I also forbid a toad but I could I could tolerate a cat. The boys have wanted one for years."

Vernon sighs, seeing there is clearly only one way to deal with this argument and that is by having it despite his best wishes.

"They have also wanted a python, a dog and a small zoo of gerbils at some point but that is hardly the point at play here. You will still have to interact with the ruddy birds regardless, Pet! Is it not best he have an animal of his own at this school? One that can be trusted to deliver his mail? Never trust standard issue, Petunia. We have always taught the boys to strive for the best."

Narrowed eyes meet his as he turns for his blazer which he had left hanging innocently on the bottom of the staircase banister.

"I will have you know, again because you clearly did not listen the other times over the Summer that I told you this, that I i_am_/i striving for the best. The best sleep! Owls are nocturnal if you have not noticed! Lily's dratted bird kept us half the night during the holidays before it died mercifully in her forth year. It is a nightmare!"

Vernon pauses as he tries to wrestle his lunch box into his briefcase and Petunia smiles, thinking she has got him thinking but is outraged when his response is a puzzled, "That seems an awfully short life span for a bird of that sort."

"Something to do with a hex or charm or something else gone wrong at breakfast, a fox and something else. I do not care to remember as I was too busy prepping or my literature exam. Focus Vernon. You get cranky when something wakes you up."

"Petunia it will be a few weeks at best during the year and then during the summer and don't you recall the letter? They are awaiting our owl I-"

"They are awaiting our owl because that Headmaster is an old fool who thinks Harry is from a magical family simply as we know about magic. It is ridiculous to think we have an owl to send him in return! You don't seem to realise the cost in-"

"Pet, come on. We know Harry has money to be used to help. And I did not do all that overtime for nothing. We never knew if Harry's passage to Hogwarts was paid in advance. I feel rather rich right now if I do say so myself. That side letter saying his fees were paid on birth is a dividend for us."

"You're not helping. Spare money doesn't mean a damn bird!" Petunia snaps after a few tense seconds, but a few seconds in which she moves into the living room and leaves Vernon a pass to the front door.

"We will talk later ok?"

PGANOF

Vernon and Petunia squabble for days over the issue of a post owl but the boys are oblivious to it all. Harry has finally been allowed to open a box of his mother's old things and the cousins' distract themselves with each object they pull free.

Petunia sees a different life than the one she created for herself when the boys dig in to their bangers and mash at dinner time.

" It looks like you are going to be able to change things in to other things! That is so cool! And transport yourself! Harry, it is like you are going to be Doctor Who and no one around here can start on you anymore. You are going to be like Hulk Hogan!"

Harry snorts and shoves Dudley half-heartedly in his seat, "Shove Hogan. I want to be like Ric Flair but with a wand. Woo!"

"Wrestling stays in your rooms boys!" Vernon comments as he passes which only incenses Petunia and causes the boys to fall into giggles as she is adamant there should be no wrestling _at all _ after the broken arm incident. Harry is still in the cast for god's sake. She is lucky it will come off just before they go to, well, his world so that don't think they are beating him or some such nonsense.

PGANOF

Petunia gulps several times before she nods to herself and takes Harry firmly by the shoulder, "As far as I remember you should be able to see a sign for a pub. An old one. With some sort of cauldron pot on it. Around here somewhere. One only you can see. Because of magic."

"Urgh aunt-"

"I am deathly serious, Harry. Please look around."

With Dudley and Vernon looking on in both excitement and fear Harry nods and turns his gaze to the street his aunt has him pointed towards. Looking up and down several times he sees nothing other than music shops, grocers and a chain book store until his final swipe catches something. Something odd.

"You see it?" His aunt murmurs in his ear.

"I think so," Harry returns before taking her hand and dragging her forward. In turn she has a firm grip on Dudley who drags his father along to boot.

His aunt shivers at the same time Harry also feels something wash over him. Before they open the door, he feels his uncle large hand grasp the back of his neck in a comforting way, "Just remember, Harry. Your past is not their business."

A second later they push on and enter _The Leaky Cauldron_ Petunia purses her lips and makes her way towards the bar. A smiling hunchbacked man greets her and while there are some whispers around the place Harry feels safe surrounded by his family.

"We need help getting into the alley but my nephew does not have his want yet. I had a sister with magic so I know how to get around but can't...well you understand. When we are done with our purchases, we will happily take a table for four around five?"

From what Harry knows of his family, a table for four at a place like this is probably the last thing they want but he also knows that his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never do anything without reason so he allows himself to be pushed towards a brick wall and watches in amazement as it breaks free to reveal a whole new street full of people who look entirely odd.

"Your world, Harry." Petunia says softly with a hand on his shoulder. Swallowing something awkward in his throat Harry reaches to cover that hand with his own.

" A part of it."

Hoping he conveyed what he meant he grabs Dudley by the arm and pulls him forward. Uncle Vernon has the list in his hand but before they boys can get excited his Aunt Petunia breaks in again.

"This is the first time that you have been...back. You need to go to your bank, Harry. To sort your affairs. No. No! No, for god's sake Harry we don't mean you are out on your own!" Petunia snipes while giving Harry a disproving look, "Banks work differently here. As does money. They don't have things like bank cards. That is all I know. It is the first place we should go."

"But later-"

"Boys we have all day. Come on."

PGANOF

After reading the inscriptions outside both Dudley and Vernon look nervous.

"I can go inside myself," Harry offers.

"Ridiculous," Petunia snaps before grabbing his arm and hauling him towards the steps, "I've seen these goblins before. You just need to be polite."

"_Goblins_," is all the warning Harry gets before he is faced to face with one and his Aunt Petunia is placing an old key in front of the strange creature.

Said goblin reaches over his desk and peers at Petunia in a way that makes a strange fire burn inside of Harry.

"How did you come by this key Muggle?"

"I demanded it from a wizard who had less rights to it than I. Unless you think raising Harry Potter is some sort of hilarity?"

"Indeed."

As a goblin leads them into a section of the bank Harry grasps at his aunt's dress, "Is this what you warned me about? My name being special?"

"Something like that. I can only guess at what this world think you are now. I'm just trying my best."

"I trust you," Harry confirms while getting into a goblin cart beside his aunt, "Whatever money you take I can pa-"

"Is only to give you more than most would have. Your Uncle and I are more than happy to help as we can because I ...you are not our son but we love you as if you were and it is not all about mOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Harry laughs and laughs and laughs and still struggles to hold it in as his Aunt remains in the cart after her screaming track ride but grumbles about 'gold ones' and 'silver ones' he should get from his vault.

"Is there no way to make it easier for my aunt, Mr Goblin?"

The goblin stares at Harry for a long time before nodding, "Given your manners, for a small fee of ten knuts a potion can be administered."

"Oh, oh yes please. I don't want her to suffer."

Without another word a small click is heard and then a vial is in front of his aunt. More used to the world than him, she downs said potion and then lies back in the cart shivering until it reaches the surface.

Finding Vernon and Dudley outside of the bank distracts them for some time. Neither have seen wizarding coin before and both are concerned over Petunia's still pale appearance. As many mothers do, Petunia insists she is fine and drags them all back into the alley. Dudley still wants to know about Harry's bank and odd roller coaster though. Harry promises to take him next time and that only takes away the little colour his aunt had managed to return to her face.

Harry is constantly aware of there being two types of people around him and his family, those who smile and those who grimace. He knows enough to sneer back at certain groups.

PGANOF

Diagon Alley is amazing and strange and all sorts of overwhelming. From the conversations Harry has overheard with Dudley at night though he has only one thing in mind.

Owls.

"Hogwarts say I can-"

"Need several sets of robes and such yes, off we go," his Aunt breaks in which makes his Uncle roll his eyes but still gesture to the boys with a wink.

Inside the robe shop a nice enough if old witch asks him, "Muggleborn dear?" to which Harry shrugs and replies, "Basically."

The blonde on the stool next to him decides that is enough to prevent any conversation and Harry notes that and tries not to laugh as Dudley makes obscene gestures between the other boy's back. Once he is released from the stool he wants to make his way towards the main desk but his aunt prevents him,

"He will need more than his uniform. Many spend their down time in casual versions do they not? My sister often commented on that. Our...our parents didn't buy her many sets but I think Harry would like to pick out several colours."

Her face is tense and Harry notes his Uncle place an arm around her waist. It is not often the cousins see affection between the two and as a result Harry's stomach drops and he drags Dudley with him when the witch takes him towards the casual wear.

"I don't want to be picked on cause I'm not from magic," he confesses half to a bundle of silk robes and half to Dudley who is holding up a pair of men's leggings in bewilderment.

"You are though. You're from both. If folk care then don't care about them," Dudley states before punching him in the arm. He doesn't mean anything by it but Harry nearly falls into a batch of skirts all the same.

Dudley snickers.

Harry's mood lifts.

PGANOF

The rest of Diagon Alley is a mixed bag. All four are disgusted at the potions ingredients and when Dudley mentions that "Aunt Lily had good marks in Potions in all of those reports nan kept in that folder", Harry all but wants to quit Hogwarts before he goes.

"And I was good at needlecraft but I doubt you pair could do anything but stab yourselves," aunt Petunia snaps before hustling them all towards the book shop.

Vernon sets about diligently picking all that is listed for Harry while the boy and his cousin giggle over curse books about pig tails and cows noses and then worse than that. Petunia picks up a couple on ancient families and introductions to the wizarding world. Both fit Harry in a ridiculous way. Or at least she thinks Lily had mentioned something about that and though she had been trying to block out most of the wedding the world 'Lord' seemed to be mentioned a few times. It overwhelms her to think of it but she cannot put it back in into its box now.

Harry is off to that world and all that entails.

She still puts wands off as long as she can and regrets nothing about it because the experience is horrendous. Vernon ends up hauling her bodily from the shop while she screams at the old wizard about appropriate things to tell children as Harry throws a handful of gold on the counter and follows his family out of the shop. Honestly, to tell her boy the wand he carries and looked forward to so much has a relation to the one that made him an orphan. The old git is lucky the counter was too wide for her to reach over it and deck him!

PGANOF

"Now all that is left is an owl, Harry! Hurry along into the shop boys and we will meet you there!"

Vernon gasps it out before he has quite put Petunia back on the ground after the wand fiasco and she can do nothing but gape at him.

"You can take a sleep aid during the summer. Or...drink gin."

"Yes dear, because the solution to our problems is to become a part time drunkard! Number Seven will be delighted to have company!"

"Don't be like that, Pet. Think of how happy Harry is going to be!"

"I would rather think of how awake I am going to be if that is all the same to you," she grumbles while following Vernon across the cobbled streets. All day random people in robes and not have stared at them but they openly gape now. Petunia is half mortified and yet half proud of herself for her stance.

No one hurts her boys!

She's ready to bite the head off anyone who questions her while informing Harry that he _will _be getting a cat or nothing at all when she sees him with the snowy white owl. Dudley is a good two feet back and the young girl that Petunia assumes works in the shop does not seem confident about letting Harry near the bird.

Yet they look perfect together.

Harry's grin is wide and his eyes are full of joy. The owl is barking in the content way Petunia's memory stirs up from before. The wings flutter slightly but then she nips at Harry's hand, gently, almost asking and Petunia cannot say no to that.

The meal in the pub is far less awkward than Petunia predicted it would be when they first arrived. For one, the barkeep Tom seems to be a _decent_ person and ushers them into a private room at no extra charge. Vernon tries to argue and the more he does the more Petunia respects the wizard.

"It is not charity but decency, Sir. Young Sir there did us a great deed. Great indeed. But he was a child and I think kids should be kids. I see a lot of them come through my doors. Some with no family. Some with families who threw them out for having magic, not enough magic, not making friends with the right magic folk. Then the war came and it got worse. Young Sir...well he ended that in some ways. Don't know how. Don't know why. Recon he doesn't want asked about it either. Then I know you are all his Muggle relatives and you still treat him right. So if it is all the same to you, Sir, take this room and enjoy your dinner."

Vernon and Petunia leave most of the money they had exchanged at the bank and Harry himself adds a little more.

They will not forget Tom at the _Leaky Cauldron_ any time soon.

PGANOF

"Aunt Petunia?"

"Yes darling?"

Harry shuffles forward into the living room, aware it is well past eleven and he is lucky that he has caught his aunt awake and that she is not already hustling him off to his bed. It is only a few days before he goes to Hogwarts and both his trunk and Dudley's suitcase are packed for boarding school. He is not sure when or if he will get another chance to ask what he feels that he needs to.

"I was just...I have had a lot on my mind lately," Harry confesses as he wrings his hands in front of himself.

"About school? About Magic? That is perfectly understandable," his Aunt Petunia says while getting to her feet and catching Harry gently around the shoulders before he sits down on the sofa. Instead she leads him to the kitchen and points towards the table before she turns sets about heating up some milk on the stove. Harry grins when he sees her pull the cocoa powder from the baking cupboard near the back door.

Hot chocolate!

"Not that, auntie. Just...about my mum?" In the darkness of the kitchen with only the oven light and the lingering hall lights from the house Harry feels braver and more able to be honest.

"Oh?"

"I...was it hard to think you would have to raise...a...a...a wizard? Was...was it a problem?"

Petunia does not answer at first. She stirs the milk on the hob and fusses with two mugs and the right amount of cocoa. When she turns to Harry, her back leaning on the worktop directly beside the hob she looks far older to his young eyes.

"Yes. It was hard. I wasn't a good sister. I was cruel. Then you came into our lives. I knew in an instant that if we died Lily would adore Dudley. From then on...you were my boy. My terrible, fearless, wrestling boy. Things happened that we could not explain to your teachers. Things happened I could barely understand myself and I knew what you are. Your Uncle had only had glimpses of your world and they were not ones that...well he feared it. But when you appeared on our door I was the one who froze and he was the first one to say the only response was to raise you as one of our own Harry. I hope you always felt like you were our son! The only reason we did not adopt you was because we knew that one day you would need to go to Hogwarts and that your name would matter there. I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry we could not to better and more andme-"

Her voice is cut off as Harry's small body crashes into hers and wraps his arms around any part of his aunt that he can reach.

"I love you, aunty Petunia."

He feels her fingers in his hair, hears her sobs in his ears, and he feels the truth in her words, "I love you Harry. I love you so much."

PGANOF

"_Platform Nine and Three Quarters This Way!"_

His aunt scowls and holds Harry back while the gaggle of redheads loudly debate the matter before disappearing from site.

"I am no expert but making sure people like me do not know about people like you exist is vital. I advise you stay away from any of those children," Petunia comments while checking the scarf around Harry's neck before dragging him close, a family hug which Vernon and Dudley soon share, "Remember you are who you are. Not who anyone tries to say you are. Remember we love you. We both expect you-"

"Owls!" breaks in Dudey, "I can't wait to get that letters from Hedwig at school. It is going to look amazing."

"Yes, well, " Petunia continues in a fluster, "Just take care of yourself son okay?"

Harry smiles and throws himself into a pile of his family once more before he steps back and as previously agreed he and his aunt face the platform together.

Everything will be different this time.


End file.
